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Draft Lottery result raises more free agent questions

The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Chicago Bulls. All opinions expressed by Sam Smith are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Chicago Bulls or their Basketball Operations staff, parent company, partners, or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Bulls and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.

What do you suppose LeBron James said Tuesday when he watched the NBA Draft Lottery and saw the No. 1 pick, expected to be Kentucky guard John Wall, go to the Washington Wizards and the 70-loss New Jersey Nets fall to No. 3?

I assume he said he wasn’t going to any franchise with that kind of luck and would probably sign with the Bulls, because while John Paxson was going to the bathroom back home two years ago, the Bulls got the No. 1 pick and Derrick Rose in the lottery.

Now that’s the kind of lucky franchise anyone would want to be with.

Of course, you know for the next two months we have to consider what LeBron would have said and done almost any time of day and night.

I heard he looks marvelous.

I, for one, now wear my WWLD—What Would LeBron Do—bracelet, thinking constantly WCIDTGL—What Can I Do To Get LeBron.

In any case, if you’re keeping score, it probably was a good night for the Bulls, as the Nets have been considered one of the contenders for prize free agent James. The theory was they’d get Wall and then be able to do a sign-and-trade of Devin Harris for another free agent, perhaps Joe Johnson.

Now if the Nets have to keep Harris, as there are no other top point guards in the draft, they don’t have much to trade. They’ll still get a good player in the draft, probably George Tech forward Derrick Favors and, nevertheless, have potentially a formidable roster with Harris and Brook Lopez. But it figures not to be quite as attractive assuming Wall is all he is supposed to be.

Does scoring the top pick put the Wizards in the mix for James, as they have cap room to spend on almost two max free agents?

Unlikely, since the Washington roster was stripped down after the suspension and subsequent jailing of Gilbert Arenas on a gun charge.

However, Wizards GM Ernie Grunfeld says nothing has changed and they still expect Arenas with the team next season, it would seem more vital than ever for Washington to try to move Arenas.

He has the big contract averaging about $20 million per season for the next four years, which is a disaster. But I can see two potential suitors, the Knicks and Heat.

Both desperately need a point guard, and there’s a strong chance even the normally knuckleheaded Arenas will come back from his arrest much more stable. He’s only 28 and has been an All-Star.

I can see the Knicks making a move and then still having enough money to add two maximum contract free agent. You figure the Wizards would do about anything to get out from under that contract and allow Wall to grow with a new team without the shadow and controversy of Arenas hanging over them, which it surely would be every day.

Arenas is an actor and extrovert and could thrive in New York.

I could see the Wizards taking maybe Eddy Curry with a year left and Danilo Gallinari. Then you present to James Arenas at point and maybe Chris Bosh to come along. That’s three stars and you fill in with minimum guys, and New York always can come up with a few veterans in that range. So maybe the Knicks become bigger competition.

Perhaps even the Heat are a possibility. They, also, don’t have a point guard. To get out from under Arenas, you could see Washington taking on Michael Beasley and some of the old, bad deals the Heat have, like James Jones, and maybe throwing in a short term sign and trade for Udonis Haslem to equalize the money. So then you have Arenas, Dwyane Wade, you add James and you still have money for a mid level type free agent or even better.

I’d doubt it, though you could easily work it out financially for Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich. But I don’t see the Bulls wanting a ball control Arenas in the backcourt with Rose, especially since Arenas is one of the poorest defenders in the NBA. I’d rather keep Deng and Hinrich, especially because the Bulls have a point guard, and a better one than Arenas ever has been. And that gives the Bulls perhaps the deepest roster of any of the teams potentially pursuing James.

So how does the draft go?

I’d assume the Wizards take Wall. Though some GMs mention Evan Turner or even Derrick Favors, you never pass the consensus No. 1. It’s too risky and will always cost you your job.

My guess given their roster is the 76ers at No. 2 take Ohio State’s Evan Turner to pair in the backcourt with Jrue Holiday, their young point guard the 76ers like. It would give them a potentially exciting young backcourt to grow with and with Andre Iguodala and Thaddeus Young could return to being the quicker and more successful team they were a year ago.

The Nets fall to No. 3, essentially wasting a season of 70 losses, underlying the basic inequity of the lottery as the Wizards and 76ers moved up.

You figure the Nets go with a big guy in Favors or DeMarcus Cousins to support Lopez.

Then comes the Timberwolves and Kings, who were the losers in falling back, the Timberwolves from second poorest record and Kings from third. Golden State also falls back two spots from fourth to sixth.

The Bulls have the No. 17 pick. They fell back two spots from No. 15 under the terms of the John Salmons deal as the Bucks were given the option to swap draft picks. With the Bulls making the playoffs, it ended up as a negligible change. And no one from the bottom moved up to the top, so if the Bulls had missed the playoffs they would have been at the bottom of the lottery, maybe four picks higher in a draft in which most GMs say after the top seven or eight it’s a crapshoot among the next 20 picks.

About Sam Smith

Smith covered the Bulls and the NBA for the Chicago Tribune for 25 years. He is the author of the best selling The Jordan Rules, which was top ten on the New York Times Bestseller List for three months. He is also the author of Second Coming: The Strange Odyssey of Michael Jordan and co-author of the Total Basketball Encyclopedia. Smith served as president of the Professional Basketball Writers Association for four terms, a feat no one else has accomplished. He has also served on committees for the NBA and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. In 2012, Smith was honored by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame with its Curt Gowdy Media Award.